Who is Margaret Hastings? Why does the author focus the beginning of his story on Margaret? How does Margaret find herself in New Guinea during World War II? What is Margaret's job there? What is her life like there? What are the hardships that Margaret faces on New Guinea? How does Margaret find herself on board the Gremlin Special? What were her plans for that night?

Who is John McCollom? How did he find himself on the Gremlin Special? What was special about McCollom's relationship with his brother Robert? How did the two brothers find themselves separated on the plane? What was ironic about this? How did McCollom find himself in charge after the Gremlin Special crashed? What did McCollom do to help the other survivors? What was difficult about McCollom's decision to leave the crash area? What could have been the result? What was the result...